Love of Darkness
by Xx.Triple A.xX
Summary: The darkness comes after him in the night. It makes him twist and turn and get tangled in his sheets until he wakes up on a stifled scream, sweat pouring from his body but his blood running ice-cold in his veins.


**OPENING AUTHORESSIAL NOTE:** I am back, with another fic! Featuring Dark!Riku this time. Read and enjoy, my fellow fans!

**DISCLAIMER:** I do not own KH. This is my sad face.

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The darkness comes after him in the night. It makes him twist and turn and get tangled in his sheets until he wakes up on a stifled scream, sweat pouring from his body but his blood running ice-cold in his veins.

Sometimes it haunts him through the day as well, that too-familiar deep voice whispering through his mind about things he can't do; never would do. Sora and Kairi are a couple now – _so what if they love each other_, it hums in its cruel baritone. _Everything you did, everything you've been through, it was all for __her__ in the first place. And how does she repay you? By hooking up with that scrawny little brat. It would be so easy for you to just take her away. You know how._

No. He would never _do_ that. Already he had betrayed Sora once, and the Keybearer had repaid him by following him across worlds, trying to get his friend back. He would never even contemplate betraying _both_ of them, tearing them apart, taking what made Sora happy and going back through the door Sora thought he'd sealed.

But it got harder to resist. When they'd hang out on the island, and Sora and Kairi would sit on the tree and share a paopu, and then Kairi would lean over and lick a dribble of juice off Sora's face – it was times like those when Riku would go silent and stare out across the water as dark feelings clenched in his chest, and his fingernails would dig into his palms and leave bloody crescents behind as the whisper turned into a murmur and then a normal tone and then a yell and then a scream. _TAKE HER BACK! SHOW THE LITTLE FOOL WHO'S REALLY IN CONTROL!_ He would be tempted – so tempted – but every time he was tempted he would leave; sometimes bothering to come up with an excuse, sometimes simply walking away. Other times he would take off at a run, when the screaming in his head would get too loud, when the darkness threatened to take control, when he could hardly keep from snarling at the two of them in that hated voice and hurt them all over again.

He was in the cave when it happened. It was a hot day out, and Sora and Kairi had gone to the mainland for what he supposed was a date. He remembered the secret place, and though he was almost too big to fit through the entrance, he crawled until the passage opened up onto the cave and he was able to stand. It had changed since the last time he had been inside; moss covered the walls and ceiling, a veritable harvest of mushrooms sprouted in the corners by the entrance, and the door, while he knew it was there, was no longer visible.

He sighed and closed his eyes, turning a full circle as he inhaled the damp and nostalgic scent of rocks and cool air. Then he opened them again, and that was when he saw it.

The drawing on the wall. Kairi and Sora, sharing paopus.

He had seen them _eat_ paopu fruit before, right in front of him. For crying out loud, he had even seen the girl lick juice from Sora's chin. But for some reason, the sight of the picture was worse. Much, much worse.

Everything went black.

* * *

It was a struggle to regain his senses, but finally he was able to control himself a little. The darkness was already there, though, and the sight of the picture had been just enough to cause Riku to drop his defenses for long enough for it to take back control. It swarmed through his body, causing his hands to become longer, darker – a grown man's hands – before they morphed back to his own. His hair was changing length, getting thicker, thinner, thicker again. The tips of his canines were more pointed than they were normally, and as he ran his tongue across them, he learned that they were sharp as well. Rather than cry out at the pain as the fang drew blood, he threw back his head and laughed.

Desperately trying to regain some control, he turned to look at the picture again. It had been scribbled over ferociously with another rock – both Kairi and Sora, and the paopus. The area where it had been was now only one white blur. Riku glanced down at his hands and saw that they were torn and bloody from what he had done, and he smiled.

"Riku? Hey, Riku! I saw your tracks and followed them in here. It's a tight fit, huh?"

As Sora emerged from the passageway, Riku whirled so that his back was to his friend. A mad laugh bubbled up in his chest and threatened to burst from between his lips, but he stifled it by slamming his fist into the rock wall. It came out as a hiss of pain instead.

"Riku? You okay?" The sound of Sora standing up, dusting off his pants – _those ridiculous baggy pants_ – "I was just say – _RIKU_!"

Riku cringed as Sora ran past him, falling to his knees by the wall, his fingertips brushing delicately over the ruined picture. When he spoke again, he sounded to be on the verge of tears.

"Riku, why? _Why_?"

The darkness twisted violently in his chest, spiraling up into his head and making him grab it between his hands, digging his fingers into his hair. He couldn't hold on much longer; he knew that. It was going to take control and then it would make him go out there and grab Kairi and –

"_**Sora, leave.**_" It was a horrid, guttural combination of his voice and the deeper tones of the darkness.

"R…Riku?" Sora's tone of voice was hesitant; clearly he could tell something was wrong. "Riku, what -"

This time, the laugh did burst through, out into the open air, where it rang in psychotic, hysterical echoes off the cave walls.

"_**Leave now,**_" he snarled, and less of his own voice came through this time. "_**I suggest you do what I tell you to, you worthless runt.**_"

Sora inhaled sharply, and Riku knew that he had hurt him, and his desperation not to do that, to never hurt any of his friends again, gave him the strength to push down the darkness one last time, for a final imploring speech.

"Sora, no," he gasped, his hand fisting against the wall, the back now bleeding as well as the front from where he'd struck the rock with it. "Sora, please, you have to – it's not me - "

A hand took his shoulder and turned him around. Sora's blue eyes met Riku's green ones, even as they flashed from green to gold and back again.

"Riku, what's wrong? It's the darkness, isn't it?" Sora's tone was fierce, but not in a reprimanding way. "You can beat it, Riku, I know you can. Don't give it what it wants."

Riku laughed again, but this time it was his own voice, high, reedy, hysterical. "I already did." He gestured wildly to the picture. "I was keeping it back until I saw that. And then – then – haha – well." His eyes flashed different colors again.

Sora's gaze held only confusion and worry. "What? Why? I don't understand, Riku."

"I loved her, you know." He had to say it. He didn't have much time left, he could tell. The darkness did not appreciate being held down when it had so recently regained power. "That's why I let the darkness take me in the first place. I wanted to save her by any means necessary. They said they could help me. Maleficent – Xehanort – it was all for Kairi, _all for her_, can't you see that? But none of you ever did. I couldn't – when you closed the door on the King and me, I realized what I had done, what a horrible mistake I'd made. I tried to go back to what I was, I tried to change things, to _fix_ them. The darkness had such a powerful hold on me, I don't think any of you realized, not even the King – _gahhh_!" One hand shot up to clutch at his chest, where the darkness was coiling tighter, causing him pain. "Wh-when I saw you and Kairi – in the Castle – I had to leave – if you hadn't confronted me, I would have left. It wants me – to _want_ – even what I can't have - " His eyes snapped shut as he tried to focus on his words. "And to get it by any means necessary, even if that means – if it means – _Sora, I just don't want to hurt you again_!" It was a scream, one that tore at his throat and felt as if his heart was getting ripped out with it. His eyes flashed gold and didn't change back again.

"You should stop me," he murmured. His time was up. "Sora, you need to use the Keyblade… or I'll open the door and… _haha, __**try to stop him if you can.**_Sora, please – _**but why would he bother pleading with you? It's not like you've paid attention to his feelings at all – **__PLEASE, SORA_!"

Sora stared at his friend for a long moment. He didn't turn and run. He didn't summon the Keyblade, either. He watched Riku gasping for breath, felt his shoulders heave beneath his hands, watched the silver hair in his face change length and color and shape, heard his voice go deeper, and saw that even though his eyes were gold, the soul behind them still belonged to Riku, who was pleading with him to stop him, to keep him from changing and hurting him, even at the cost of his own life.

Riku gasped as his friend embraced him, arms that had grown surprisingly strong wrapping around him as they pulled him to his chest.

"I'm not going to let it take you back, Riku," Sora insisted. "I only just found you again. No matter what, I'm not letting you go back to that! Maybe it can beat you by yourself. But it can't beat the both of us!"

Silence fell, the only sound Sora's determined cry ringing off the stone walls and Riku's ragged breathing. It lasted for a while, but still Sora didn't let go.

Then, in a flash, Riku was Xehanort. Shoving away from Sora, he leapt to his feet and roared something that sounded profane – but before Sora could even react, he turned back to Riku, who gave a wordless cry of anguish and pitched forward into his friend's waiting arms.

* * *

The darkness doesn't come in the night anymore. It doesn't come at all. He feels strangely empty without it; it's been a part of him for so long.

Sora's relationship with Kairi has gone back to being platonic. He is more important to Riku than she is, now, and Riku to him – they are best friends, and Sora saved him from the darkness that would have destroyed him, destroyed _them_. Kairi doesn't understand what's going on, but it's no different than anything that happened before they ever went on their strange adventures, so she lets it be.

Sometimes, now, late at night, Riku goes out to the beach and sits on the sand and lets the water lap at his feet. And more often than not, Sora will come join him, and they will sit together in companionable silence, never speaking a word but saying more than could be said aloud.

They never go back inside the cave.

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**ENDING AUTHORESSIAL NOTE:** That was a lot of fun to write. I might try my hand at more Dark!Riku in the future. That being said, I REALLY like this story, and am quite proud of it, so feedback/reviews would be absolutely delicious.

Toodle pip, A3 over and out!


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